If you are a fan of queer sex books, then you already know (and love) the work of kd diamond, founder and art director of Salacious Magazine. Diamond has illustrated Tristan Taormino’s Secrets of Great G-Spot Orgasms and Female Ejaculation and Ultimate Guide to Kink, as well as the books Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation, Playing Well with Others, and the Ultimate Guide to Prostate Pleasure. This week Friday, June 6th, at 8 pm ET / 5 pm PT on Sex Out Loud, hear my interview with Diamond talking about becoming an artist, making cartoons sexy, and the latest project from Diamond and Allison Moon: Girl Sex 101, a road trip in a book.

kd diamond is a queer cartoonist and illustrator, artist and media-maker, and sea creature nerd. She’s the founder and art director of Salacious Magazine, a queer feminist anti-racist sex rag that aims to stimulate your genitals and challenge your brain, and the illustrator of close to a dozen books about sex and gender, including but not limited to The Ultimate Guide to Kink, Partners In Pleasure, and The Ultimate Guide to Prostate Pleasure. Diamond is currently hard at work on the layout and illustrations for Girl Sex 101 (girlsex101.com), a collaboration with Allison Moon (talesofthepack.com) that combines expert advice, fictional narrative, and educational segments with illustrations to create an ultimate road map for girls to have mind-blowing sex with other girls.

On June 26, four former adult movie stars who have become innovators in diverse fields of human sexuality will each be awarded the degree Doctor of Human Sexuality from the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality (IASHS) in San Francisco. Jane Hamilton (aka Veronica Hart), Candida Royalle and Veronica Vera will receive their degrees from Dr. Ted McIlvenna at the Institute. Gloria Leonard, who died in January, 2014 will receive her degree posthumously.

After a long and distinguished career in adult movies, working on both sides of the camera, Jane Hamilton now uses her expertise to educate women in the U.S. and China on issues of pleasure, aging and self-esteem. Candida Royalle created Femme Productions in 1984 and became known for pioneering erotic cinema from a woman’s perspective, encouraging other women to follow her lead. Veronica Vera founded the world’s first crossdressing academy Miss Vera’s Finishing School for Boys Who Want to Be Girls, enriching the lives of trans people across the gender spectrum. Gloria Leonard debated some of the toughest anti-porn activists and toured college campuses as a self-described “stand up constitutionalist” enlightening students on the First Amendment. She was the first president of the Free Speech Coalition. In addition, all four women, plus Annie Sprinkle comprise Club 90, the first porn star support group, which began in 1983 and continues to this day. They credit the resulting deep and lasting friendship of their Club 90 sisters with helping to manifest their individual dreams and successes.

Annie Sprinkle was the first porn star to be awarded a Ph.D. which she earned from IASHS in 2002. Dr. Sprinkle will host the investiture and awards ceremony. The soon-to-be graduates will each present her life’s work at the Institute’s special “Days of The Divas” (June 24-26) as part of the curriculum. Most events are invited guests only, however, the afternoon of Thursday, June 26th will feature a “Days of the Divas Display—An Open House Meet & Greet & Show & Tell,” that will display Club 90 archival materials and ephemera to which the public is cordially invited.

Founded in 1976 by Rev. Dr. Ted McIlvenna, the IASHS was the first to award advanced degrees in the newly emergent field of sexology that grew out of the sexual revolution. Wardell Pomeroy a colleague of Alfred Kinsey was appointed the school’s first dean. (Chris O’Donnell portrayed him in the movie “Kinsey.”) Says, Dr. McIlvenna, “These Divas personify, what has always been, a primary goal of the Institute which is to spread the truth of human sexual experience in all its complexities. To acknowledge the Divas’ visionary work renews our shared commitment to that goal and helps assure our continued success.”

Pioneering Sex Positive Retailer Makes a Difference for Pride

Good Vibrations, the trusted San Francisco-based sex-positive retailer, announces its new nonprofit partners for the summer months, including Pride Month in June. The company is partnering with Planned Parenthood Shasta Pacific, Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center, and El/la Para Translatinas in San Francisco; AIDS Project of the East Bay in Oakland; the Billy De Frank LGBT Community Center in San Jose; and Fenway Health in Boston from May through July. Partnerships with these organizations were formed because June is Pride Month and each of the organizations has a strong commitment to serving lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities.

From May 1st – July 31st Good Vibrations’ customers can support these regional nonprofits in Good Vibrations’ San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland, Palo Alto and Brookline stores by making a financial gift at the time of their purchase in any Good Vibrations retail stores. 100% of your contribution goes to the nonprofit of your choice. Online shoppers can contribute directly to our web partner, Planned Parenthood Shasta Pacific, at checkout and learn more about the donations program on the GiVe Partner page.

Staff Sexologist Dr. Carol Queen says, “We are delighted to partner with local nonprofit organizations that serve LGBTQ communities. For over 37 years Good Vibrations has partnered with hundreds of nonprofit and grassroots groups, including organizations that support LGBTQ health and sexuality. By donating products, advertising and sponsorship for fundraisers, along with a percentage of retail sales, we have provided much needed support for HIV/AIDS research, art programs, LGBTQ benefits, sexuality education, and much more. We are proud of that legacy and glad to continue.”

Summer GiVe Partners:

Planned Parenthood Shasta Pacific provides over 100,000 individuals with health care and education services at more than 30 sites throughout 17 Northern California counties. They reach people through health care services, education programs, and advocacy initiatives.

El/La Para Translatinas is an organization for transgender Latinas that works to improve the quality of life of TransLatinas in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The Asian & Pacific Islander (API) Wellness Center’s mission is to transforms lives by advancing health, wellness, and equality for people of all races, ethnicities, sexual orientations, gender identities, and immigration statuses. They believe everyone deserves to be healthy and needs access to the highest quality health care.

The AIDS Project East Bay is a community based organization, dedicated to preventing the spread of HIV and supporting individuals infected with the virus through programs targeted at some of the most vulnerable and marginalized individuals in Alameda County.

The Billy DeFrank LGBT Community Center strives to be the LGBT community’s premier resource hub and a recognized leader in promoting health, strength, diversity and inclusiveness.

The mission of Fenway Health is to enhance the wellbeing of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and all people in our neighborhoods and beyond through access to the highest quality health care, education, research and advocacy.

ABOUT GOOD VIBRATIONSGood Vibrations is the San Francisco Bay Area based retailer trusted for more than three decades to provide a comfortable, safe environment for finding quality products, trusted information and educational materials to enhance one’s sex life. Visit online at, goodvibes.com. Please follow us on Twitter @GoodVibesToys

“Feminist porn isn’t an oxymoron anymore—it’s a genre, an awards show, a conference, and maybe even a movement. Last month, I traveled to Toronto for the ninth annual Feminist Porn Awards, an event hosted by the sex toy store Good for Her. “

“It’s almost 01:00 in the morning in a hotel room in downtown Toronto, and three porn stars in various states of undress are choreographing the sex scene they are about to film. The performers include a man, a woman, and a transgender man, opening a world of sexual possibilities. “So what are we doing?” James Darling, the 26-year-old transgender performer, asks his co-stars Wolf Hudson and Zahra Stardust. “What are people feeling up to?”

~~ Shar Rednour interviewed me at CatalystCon for her series called “The Deeper Truth” – author, educator, performer, and radio personality Shar Rednour hosts a series of hot, uncensored discussions with some of sexuality’s most exceptional catalysts. These one-on-one talks will put ground-breaking thinkers, activists, educators and innovators in Shar’s sexy hot seat as they share their histories, their inspirations, and their plans for how we can all change the world. As an experienced interviewer and radio host, Shar will take her guests beyond current politics and sound bites to discover the deeper truths about how these inspiring figures became who they are today. You can listen to my interview with Shar here, along with other shows featuring Hernando Chavez, Mo Beesley, and Minister L. Renair Amin Covington.

~~ Check out this great review of my book 50 Shades of Kink on Rebel’s Notes.

“Please do not follow Christian [of 50 Shades of Grey], but follow Tristan Taormino as she is the one who gives honest and correct information.”

This Friday for Sex Out Loud I feature one of my trailblazing influences, the “Mother of Masturbation”: Betty Dodson. Dodson is an artist, author, and PhD sexologist who authored the books Sex For One, Orgasms for Two, and My Romantic Love Wars: A Sexual Memoir. Her collaborative partner Carlin Ross is an entrepreneur and sex educator and together they are two intergenerational, sex-positive feminists whose dialogue on sexuality and feminism entertains and educates. This interview was recorded live at CatalystCon 2014 and Betty Dodson does NOT hold back about anything, so tune in to hear this unforgettable interview.

Betty Dodson, artist, author, and PhD sexologist has been one of the principal voices for women’s sexual pleasure and health for over three decades. Dodson had the first one-woman show of erotic art in ’68 in NYC followed by three others. For 25 years, she ran Bodysex groups where women learned about their bodies and orgasms through the practice of self-stimulation. Her first book, Liberating Masturbation: A Meditation on Selflove (’74) became a feminist classic. Sex for One (’87) sold over a million copies. Orgasms for Two (’02) embraces partner sex and My Romantic Love Wars: A Sexual Memoir details her experiences with America’s Sexual Revolution, the women’s movement and her feminist sexual activism with bodysex groups that she conducted for 25 years. In 1994, she earned a PhD in clinical sexology. Dodson has presented at conferences for sexual scientists, therapists, and psychologists.

Carlin Ross, entrepreneur and sex educator, has transcended her “ESQ” tagline to position herself at the forefront of female sexuality. She left her law career to create a lifestyle brand for women: cherrybomb. The site launch was featured on the front page of the NY Times on February 24, 2004. She has interviewed sexperts such as Ian Kerner, Helen Fischer, Candida Royalle, Dr. Judy Kuriansky, and Dr. Barbara Bartlik for the Sex Herald. And she has written/produced/directed several erotic features for Playgirl TV in addition to several original features – most recently Betty Dodson’s Bodysex Workshop. She has appeared on The Sharon Osbourne Show, CNN, MSNBC, and Dateline and radio shows including Afternoon Advice on Playboy Radio. She has been featured in national publications including Marie Claire and Esquire.

This Friday on Sex Out Loud at 5 pm PT / 8 pm ET, listen to my interview with performer Belle Knox, who became known in March 2013 as “the Duke University pornstar” after being outed by a classmate and then writing about that experience for xojane.com. Since then, Knox has appeared in many media outlets spreading a sex positive message and sex worker equality and this week on Sex Out Loud she talks to me about her experiences, answers my questions (and yours), and tells the story of how she became Belle Knox and what’s next for her.

Originally from Washington State, Belle Knox the sweet and petite 18-year-old XXX starlet entered the world of adult entertainment four months ago. With her fresh, beautiful face and adorable figure, Knox dove into the industry appearing in Reality Kings, Porn Pros, Teen Fidelity/Kelly Madison, Nubiles, Naughty America and X-Art. She has starred in FuckedHard 18, Naughty Cheerleaders 4 and Adam and Eve’s Real College Girls. The 18-year-old Duke University student and adult starlet became national headline news after being outed by a fellow classmate and writing a piece inspired by the experience in popular online magazine www.xojane.com. Since then she has appeared on national shows such as The View, The Independents, Dr. Drew, Piers Morgan and The Howard Stern Show. She has been written about in The Huffington Post, The NY Post, The Daily News, The NY Times and Rolling Stone Magazine.

On Friday at 5 pm PT / 8 pm ET on Sex Out Loud, I interview Whitney Strub, scholar, professor, and director of the Women’s & Gender Studies Program at Rutgers. Stub’s latest book is “Obscenity Rules: Roth v. United States and the Long Struggle over Sexual Expression.” The book charts the course of censorship and law all the way back to the colonial era while focusing on Supreme Court and the complicated questions it has inspired regarding censorship, sexual expression, and the place of social mores in constitutional law. Call in with questions about sexual politics and the law, sex and censorship.

This week’s show is LIVE, which means we’ll be giving away a Sportsheets prize to a lucky fan. Find out all the ways to listen here so you can call in with questions and comments at 1-866-472-5788, join the discussion on Facebook or Twitter, or e-mail me via tristan(at)puckerup.com and I’ll read them live on the air – you could be chosen to win!

Whitney Strub is an associate professor of history and director of the Women’s & Gender Studies Program at Rutgers University-Newark. He was born on the Minnesota/Wisconsin border and grew up in Wasilla, Alaska, leaving right before Sarah Palin began her political career there. He received his Ph.D. from UCLA and taught at the University of Miami, UCLA, and Temple before coming to Rutgers-Newark, where he is involved in the Queer Newark Oral History Project. His first book, Perversion for Profit: The Politics of Pornography and the Rise of the New Right, was published by Columbia University Press in 2011, and his latest, Obscenity Rules: Roth v. United States and the Long Struggle over Sexual Expression, arrived in fall 2013 from the University Press of Kansas. Whit has written for a variety of scholarly and popular venues, including Salon, Radical History Review, OutHistory.org, Journal of Women’s History, and Journal of the History of Sexuality, among others. He lives in Philadelphia, where as a critic of the concept of “decency,” he grapples daily with what it means, and whether it’s even possible, to raise two decent cats. He also blogs, sometimes about sexual politics but lately mostly about cinematic representations of Newark, at http://strublog.wordpress.com.

I have recently started a new relationship, and we have been getting to know each other including experimenting a little with different sexual things. The topic of anal sex came up and she is turned on by it, but so far her rule is “two fingers max.” She’s a very small person all around, and that includes her asshole. She wants to stretch her ass to accommodate my cock, so we want to know how to do it and how long it will take.

–Patient in Palo Alto

Her small stature does not necessarily have anything to do with how much cock she can take in her ass. Haven’t you seen those tiny porn starlets take huge dicks up their butts? It is absolutely possible. Her objective should not be to stretch her ass, but rather to learn to relax the sphincter muscles to make penetration comfortable and pleasurable. I suggest you begin slowly. Try one finger in her ass, your tongue or fingers or a vibrator on her clit, and a rousing orgasm. From there, let her set the pace as you work your way up from one finger to two, and so on. You can also work your way up with dildos or butt plugs in graduated sizes. You shouldn’t move on to the next step until everything feels great. How long it takes to get used to this new sensation, be comfortable with anal play, and work up to a cock in her ass will totally depend on her. Don’t be so focused on how long it will take, just enjoy all the fun you’ll have getting there!

SAN FRANCISCO (April 29, 2014): Good Vibrations, the legendary San Francisco-based retailer that takes pride in providing accurate information on sexuality and toys for grown-ups says, “It’s International Masturbation Month! So, give yourself a hand! Or a vibrator, or something else stimulating, and don’t forget the lube!”

With masturbation and sex toys being featured in shows such as Girls and talked about by stars like Jennifer Lawrence on the late night television show Conan, one can easily forget how taboo the idea of self-stimulation once was. Good Vibrations founded International Masturbation Month in 1995 in the wake of the controversy surrounding the firing of former Clinton administration Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders, who evoked conservative wrath when she stated that discussion of masturbation might have a place in sex education curricula. Realizing that one simple, sensible mention of solo pleasuring was enough to lose this prominent woman—the country’s first African-American surgeon general—her job convinced Good Vibrations staff that this most basic and accessible form of sex needed a serious image boost.

Some things have changed since 1995, but International Masturbation Month is still a necessary reminder that self-satisfaction is a healthy, accessible form of pleasure engaged in by almost everyone, of every gender and relationship status, at some time of (or throughout) their lives: It’s relaxing, allows people to learn more about their own sexual response, is a basic recommendation of sex therapists that can help people with many different sexual concerns, relieves menstrual cramps, and helps keep the genitals fully functional. On top of that, it’s the safest form of sex a person can have.

“Masturbation is fun and pleasurable, it teaches you about your own unique sexuality, and it’s a great way to postpone partner sex if you’re not ready for it,” says Good Vibrations staff sexologist Carol Queen, Ph.D., one of the originators of the International Masturbation Month concept. “Why on earth isn’t everybody celebrating masturbation?”

Good Vibrations will be celebrating International Masturbation Month with workshops in local stores and online through social media. The company invites the community to attend a local free class and to celebrate their self-satisfaction on social media via #MayWeRub.

Over the years Good Vibrations has done hundreds of press interviews about masturbation, encouraged other like-minded retailers and organizations to help celebrate IMM (formerly known as National Masturbation Month), engaged customers’ creativity in compiling lists of favorite masturbation euphemisms, places to masturbate, and stranger-than-fiction masturbation stories, and curated a show of video clips from the great masturbation educators, like Dr. Betty Dodson, author of “Sex for One.”

Though any toy can be used during sex with a partner, depending on what kind of activities are being enjoyed, certain toys are especially suited or frequently-chosen for solo sex: the Original Magic Wand, favorite of masturbation expert Dr. Betty Dodson the Rabbit Habit and other twice-as-nice styles, the Pure Wand, and the G-Twist, to name a few very popular items. Men can enjoy a range of sleeves and pumps designed especially for their self-pleasuring enjoyment, like the Cobra Libre stimulator for men and Tenga Eggs .

Most importantly, however, Good Vibrations continues to celebrate masturbation as we have always done: as a basic pleasure that is the foundation for our sexual health experience. Visit Good Vibrations www.goodvibes.com for information (in books, videos, and from our trained Sex Educator Sales Associate staff members), pleasure products of all kinds (vibrators, dildos, and of course lubricants), and inspiration (erotic books and movies). Whether shared with a partner or kept as a solo secret, self-love is accessible to, and good for, everyone.

ABOUT GOOD VIBRATIONS
Good Vibrations is the San Francisco Bay Area based retailer trusted for more than three decades to provide a comfortable, safe environment for finding quality products, trusted information and educational materials to enhance one’s sex life. Visit online at, goodvibes.com. Please follow us on Twitter @GoodVibesToys

This Friday, May 9th I celebrate my birthday and the 100th episode of Sex Out Loud with a very special show featuring…my mother! That’s correct: the woman who gave birth to and raised America’s foremost authority on anal sex, open relationships, and feminist porn will join me for a LIVE conversation about my upbringing, sex education, sexual politics and feminism. Plus, my mom and I will take phone calls from listeners! Every single person who calls will win a prize, so don’t be shy: now is your chance to ask my mother anything!

This week’s show is LIVE. Find out all the ways to listen here so you can call in with questions and comments at 1-866-472-5788, join the discussion on Facebook or Twitter, or e-mail me via tristan(at)puckerup.com and I’ll read them live on the air.

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